A prominent liberal talk show host’s Twitter account dismissed Nikki Haley’s comments at the RNC by wrongly calling her “a white woman.”
After former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley spoke about racism at the Republican National Convention, a liberal talk show host’s Twitter account responded, dismissing Haley’s comments.
The Hill tweeted a story about Haley’s speech headlined: “Nikki Haley: US ‘is not a racist country,’” and Leslie Marshall’s Twitter account responded with “Says a white woman.”
Despite the obvious problem with the comment, it also disregarded the fact that Haley’s parents, Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa, both immigrated to the US from India.
The tweet has since been deleted and Marshall subsequently stated that an intern on her staff had posted the comment.
Haley had also mentioned her ethnicity in her speech Monday at the RNC.
“I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants,” she said. “They came to America and settled in a small Southern town. My father wore a turban. My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a black and white world. We faced discrimination and hardship, but my parents never gave into grievance and hate. My mom built a successful business. My dad taught 30 years at a historically black college. And the people of South Carolina chose me as their first minority and first female governor.”
Regardless of who actually posted the tweet, the targeting of Haley as a “white woman” is inappropriate. Racism and identity politics have no place in American society, no matter who is using them.
As Americans, we have a duty to maintain respect for each other and uphold each person’s First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, which includes the freedom to voice our opinions.